Beyond Despair is an an horror survival that has been recently been brought out on Early Access via Steam, recently as 16th January 2017 and although I didn’t expect much from this (mainly being an early access title) because of the uncertainty of early access even though I’ve been keeping a close eye on it via moddb.
What I’ve found is in fact a gem ‘n I gotta say I really am addicted to it. Even though I’ve put in over 4 hours, I haven’t put in any time in the “online” part to it yet, but there is that mode already in place, and while I still have yet to delve to that area, I’ve just had so much fun in single player. Although, now that I know how to play the game properly I can jump on, and with the recent patch which has enabled crafting is a godsend.
The gameplay is all about surviving on an island called “Ansora” which is a place where a disaster struck the island 2 years prior to the current events. You an unnamed (which changes during the course of the game) “volunteer” has been set out to discover what has happened to the island by carrying out quests with a map, a one way radio and a backpack. The island is very dark and bleak with remnants of diesel punk (1930’s – 1940’s) era cars and mail systems (which is an annoyance to find the first time around) but sadly that’s where you hand in the majority of the quests.
To be able to survive on the island you’re gonna have to explore it, and being aware whilst doing so as there’s lots of things around that want to kill you, such as hunger, thirst, enemies, (which i’ll get into later) coldness, fear, disease, and injury; and when you do die, which you will do quite often you are gonna lose everything from your backpack. There is a fair amount of salvage (which i’ll get into later also) and a fair bit of experience, but don’t worry as skills and skill points aren’t included within the game yet, but I don’t believe you can de-level or fall down a level upon death.
There is plenty to do on the island, such as wandering around and getting your bearings, finding loot from boxes and containers, but be warned, don’t go getting too greedy as there’s a weight system in Beyond Despair too so you’ll be debuffed, such as hunger or thirst going down quicker, so really, if you want an easy game to play don’t bother with this because it is very hard.
When you do survive for a long time however, you find yourself getting the hang of things by going into stealth and knocking out the enemies from behind, and there are a fair amount of melee weapons which can be salvaged or repaired. The enemies consist of “madmen” very much like zombies which mutter how hungry they are and how they haven’t seen many people after the “light”. Also there’s the dog like animals called “Dorg’s” of all things which love to attack you in packs, and there’s also the “Gorlan’s” which are very fast and picking them off with a knockdown is quite tricky (a knockdown is when you’re in stealth and you hit an enemy from behind with a melee weapon. This kills them in one hit rather then several hits face-to-face). There are also creatures called “Quakers” which I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting just yet.
The salvaging is all about the items which are just junk so you just right click on the mouse ‘n salvage that said item for the number it said it will give you, but you can only craft if you have the correct amount of salvage points. Obviously more important items require more points so remember to always explore the given area and salvage what you can as it does help later on.
Graphically Beyond Despair is a joy to watch, as I told my Girlfriend to go ‘n try it out and she loved it too; just from the exploring aspect of the game but Beyond Despair uses the latest Unreal engine, and damn when it snows in game it always makes me feel cold. It is very realistic and there’s been many a time where I’m at the edge of my seat exploring buildings ready for jump scares, and when it does happen you might want to check your underwear…or when you find creepy things in factory’s with mannequin’s (I hope your reading this developers) as that moment finding out when they turned around when you’re not looking made me feel very on-edge. In other words, nicely done guys. I don’t think i’m ever gonna look at mannequins the same way again.
The sound effects, and music are absolutely great. It always keeps you on edge from the get go of the tutorial all the way through as it always sounds haunting, especially with the addition of little girls talking whenever you see a television, but all you see on it is a white glare on the screen. The muttering of the “madmen” is truly great, I’d be very surprised if you guys don’t get awarded with how well you guys made this truly a work of art in both graphical and musical aspects, although I need to say, as some people like to turn the sound off sometimes, and while you can mute everything in the options…don’t bother. It is THAT good.
All the controls can be changed in the options too, but it’s really a simple affair with the WASD movement. LMB to attack, or hold it if you’re going face-to-face. RMB to block, or if you’re carrying a firearm, most of the time you won’t be as they are very rare, then that button is for aiming down your iron sight.
Dear devs, great game thank you so much in making it, and I really hope you guys do well with this as it deserves to be there up with the likes of the Resident Evil series. But please, PLEASE don’t rush it out of Early Access as this could easily be a GOTY once out of EA and being brought out into a close proximity of the latest Resident Evil game is a broad move,now time to play some more with the lights out.
/Tips hat
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